Life's Too Short
by Leer-Namenlos
Summary: After a fight with Anna, Elsa goes missing. It's up to Anna to find her sister before she loses Elsa forever.
1. Chapter 1

**_A/N:_**... Just as a warning, this fic is going to get very, very dark. There will be no character deaths, but this will get pretty intense and violent, just so you all know. I hope you enjoy otherwise! 3

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It was dark, the wind howled through the trees and the brush, the snow was black and she sunk through it like mud. Her heart raced as she trekked through the woods towards the small blue glow in the far in the distance. She couldn't get there fast enough. She had to get there. There was a sudden drop in the land and she tumbled head first down the slope, rolling head over feet, kicking up the cold black snow as she went. When she had finally stopped rolling, she pulled her head out of the snow. Her hand went to shield her eyes, the blue glow suddenly surrounding her. She thought she heard a whisper, or maybe it was the wind again. Her eyes had at last adjusted to the bright light, a figure hung high in the air arms splayed out like an invitation for an embrace. Was she an angel? Their mouth moved but she could barely hear what they said, if they had said anything at all.

"What?"

The response was a bit louder this time, but the wind carried the words away. There was a rumbling from beneath the snow that sounded like the hooves of a hundred horses against the cobblestone. But wasn't she standing in snow? Following the sound of hooves was a loud grinding, the sound of the iron hinges of the gates opening. When did she get to the castle?

Anna woke with a start. The day had already grown bright, the sun reflecting off of the freshly fallen powder only making it seem brighter. She brushed the frizzed strands of hair from her face and rubbed her hands over her eyes with soft groan.

"Oh good you're up," came a voice from across the room. Anna glanced between her fingers to see her sister digging through her wardrobe. Confusion washed over the sleepy girl as she tried to figure out why she was in her room, let alone searching through her clothes. Her mind wandered back to dream, strange as it was, all she could help to remember was the bitter cold and the dark snow. Anna fell back into her pillow, exerting another groan.

"Anna." Elsa's voice was warning. She winked open an eye to see her sister's anxious eyes that glared down at her. "You need to get dressed. You don't want to be late Anna."

"Late for what?" She mumbled and brought herself upright once again.

Elsa had taken some offence from the question; she smiled weakly, "The party? My… party?" She took a step back from the bed and glanced around the room nervously, "That is what you wanted, right?"

It took Anna a moment to register the words, she blinked a couple times before her face lit up and she bounded from the sheets and over to her wardrobe, "Your party!" She exclaimed and threw the doors open wide and rifled through the various dresses. "That's right! What should I wear?" Anna pulled out a dark blue dress and studied it for a moment before putting it back.

"You haven't thought about anything to wear?" Elsa raised an eye brow.

"It's not that big of a deal, it's not my party you know." She teased and put the purple dress beck and pulled out the green one with a small smirk. She dashed behind the screen to change, "Besides, it doesn't take that long to figure it out."

Elsa nodded, "Right," she thought back to early that morning when she stared at four different dresses for hours, and tried each of them on at least three times, before deciding which would be the most appropriate. She watched Anna twirl out from behind the screen in her dress; she was amazed that it had taken her only a few minutes to pick a dress and braid her hair.

"Why aren't you wearing your hair down?" The question had taken the queen off guard, her hands shot to her head, did it look bad? Anna giggled and moved to pull her sister's hands from her hair. Anna pulled out the pins that held the blonde strands in the bun one by one. Elsa chewed on her bottom lip all the while, she trusted her sister, completely, in fact, but the ideas of parties and lots of people in a small space left a bad taste in her mouth.

Anna's fingers raked through her hair and the strands fell around Elsa's shoulders, it was an oddly pleasant feeling, having someone else fix her hair for once. "Your hair is so pretty, Elsa. You should let it down more often." She mused softly as she weaved the strands over and under each other into a long braid down her back.

Elsa shrugged, "It's habit, I guess." When her sister finished with her hair she spun around in front of Elsa to take a look at her handiwork.

The little sister flashed a giant grin, "Perfect," Elsa tucked a strand behind her ear and brought the braid around her shoulder. It was true, she did prefer her hair down, but after what happened only a few short months ago she still worried about how people preserved her. Anna took her arm and dragged Elsa from the room giggling like a child as they dashed down the stairs, down another hall and into the ballroom.

The servants bustled back and forth between the room; they placed food on the various tables, hung decorations, and set each of the tables with powdery blue colored tablecloths. Elsa's stomach turned into a knot when she realized how much was going into this party. She had allowed Anna to take over most of the proceedings, or rather Anna had insisted on it leaving Elsa with barely any choice at all. Of course Elsa expected over-the-top from Anna, knowing how excited she became when it concerned parties, but she never expected the extravagance of what had become of the ballroom.

Anna ran about the room eagerly checking in on everything from the hors d'oeuvres, and chocolate, to the guest list and performers. So far everything seemed perfectly perfect, like nothing could possibly ruin the night. She twirled, elated and giddy, right into a solid mass.

"Hey, watch it, missy."

The princess looked up, already half apologizing, but stopped mid-sentence; her mouth split into a wide grin, "Kristoff! You made it!" She embraced his wide frame with a giggle.

"Of course I made it. Why wouldn't I? It is off season you know." He returned the hug with a soft pat on her head. "Looks like it's going to be quite the party." Kristoff mused and gazed about the busy room, "Did Elsa know it was going to be this… erm… big?"

Anna snorted and watched carefully as a servant crossed the room with a tray of chocolates stacked precariously on top of one another, "Oh sure, I mean, she told me to plan it for her."

"She told you to?"

"Ok so I did a bit of persuading."

"A bit?"

"Fine, a lot of persuading. But how could I resist! This is my sister's first real birthday party ever since she emerged from her room and I wanted to make it special. Hey! Watch it there!" Anna chased after a servant who seemed to be carrying more than they could handle. Kristoff raised an eyebrow at her, but couldn't help smiling as he watched her take off. He sighed and looked around the room once more. When he spotted Elsa hesitantly asking the servants to watch what they were doing, or to be careful, he crossed over to her.

He cleared his throat, "My queen?" He greeted politely with half bow.

Elsa turned and smiled when she saw him, "Kristoff, I thought Anna said you weren't going to make it." He could easily tell that she was hiding her nervousness behind the smile, it was clear that she had taught herself well how to pretend to be so composed when she really wasn't. Kristoff had known the queen long enough now to pick up on the subtle nuisances that gave away how uncomfortable she felt.

"I brought you something," he dug into his breast pocket and pulled out a small, and crudely wrapped, present, "It isn't much, but I thought you might enjoy it." The queen took the package gingerly and unwrapped it. She pulled out a hand-carved pendant with beautiful woven details through the piece. Elsa was in awe as she ran a thumb over the textured surface.

"Kristoff, this is wonderful." She breathed completely mesmerized by the simplistic beauty, "Is it missing a piece?" She asked noticing the flat ridge along the bottom half of the pendant.

"There's another piece, yeah. I'm giving it to Anna later." He paused, hesitant to add his last thought, "So you like it?"

Elsa looped the pendant around her neck and smiled, "I love it, really." She leaned up to him and kissed him on the cheek, "And I'm sure Anna will love hers too."

Kristoff let out a heavy sigh of relief, which only then did Elsa realize that he had been just as tense as she was, "I'm really glad you said that, I mean, I thought she would, but I wanted to make sure and I figured that if it was good enough for the queen – I mean if her sister likes it then maybe so would she. Not that you two like the same things I just thought that maybe-"

A soft chuckle escaped Elsa's lips, "Kristoff, stop worrying so much. I know she'll love it just as much as I do." She glanced past him catching site of said princess guide a couple of servants who carried the large cake towards one of the tables. "Maybe you should go rein her in before she goes completely overboard."

"Like she hasn't already?" Kristoff scoffed. Elsa let out an uncomfortable laugh; her hands slapped over her mouth out of embarrassment when she realized that it was a much louder and ungraceful noise than she had intended. Her cheeks flushed with red when she saw him staring at her. "Are you alright?" He asked raising a brow.

Elsa nodded and cleared her throat, she rolled her shoulders back so she stood erect, "Of course," she lied, "I'm perfectly fine. A little out of my element, but nothing I can't handle." He crossed his arms at her exaggerating his doubtful expression.

"I'm fine, Kristoff."

"Whatever you say," He smiled and left Elsa to her words catching up with Anna to offer any assistance.

The queen stood at the front of the room watching as everything slowly came together. She had to give Anna credit for working so hard, everything did look amazing. Elsa figured that she would enjoy it for Anna's sake. This wasn't just her birthday: it was Elsa's first birthday with Anna since they were children. And since Anna had taken care of everything she owed it to her to have a good time. Elsa took in a deep breath and smiled to herself. The ballroom had begun to clear out, save for a few of the servants putting the finishing touches on the decorations or the tables. She owed a lot to Anna; she might as well start here.


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N:**_Sorry for updating so late, I know a few of you have gotten a bit antsy for me to update. So now that the holidays are over I can probably update a bit more frequently. Enjoy~

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The party was even more extravagant than Elsa expected. Visitors from almost all neighboring and allied kingdoms had come to celebrate the queen's twenty-second birthday. There was a mountain of presents in one of the corners of the room, to which Elsa was amazed she even received any despite gift-giving being the traditional thing to do for birthdays. Other than the gifts, she had received nothing but compliments throughout the night on what a wonderful party it was.

"Thank you so much for inviting us, dear."

"You're very welcome, Ambassador, thank you for coming."

"Your father is put to shame, Mi'lady! You've really out-done him!"

"Oh no, my sister is really the one who handled everything. I'll be sure to let her know you're enjoying yourself."

"My queen! You look absolutely stunning tonight!"

"Thank you very much, sir."

The bombardment of conversations and compliments had pushed Elsa to the outskirts of the room where she was far enough away from the crowd where few people would approach her, but close enough where it wouldn't seem like she was avoiding everyone. She watched as her sister took part in most of the dances, twirling and spinning between various partners. Anna had dragged Kristoff in from one of his conversations to dance with which was an amusing site to see. The ice harvester looked far too big and clumsy to be dancing, but he laughed and danced with Anna anyway. Elsa couldn't help but feel a bit jealous of Anna and how well she did in such crowded settings such as these, especially for one who lived behind closed gates for so many years.

Elsa shook the thoughts from her head, _that was in the past_, she told herself. She finished off the drink in her hand and moved from her solitary position and deciding it was time to weave through the crowds and mingle again. Elsa held her head high as she slowly made her way around the room and hoped that time was moving a lot faster than she felt it was.

She was idly chatting with a small group of men about trade when a she was interrupted by a tug on her dress. The queen looked down to see a small child dressed in a dark blue suit looking up at her with a scowl on his face.

"Can I help you?" Elsa asked and glanced quickly at the other to see if any of them knew the child.

"I don't believe you!" He insisted vaguely.

"E-excuse me?"

"Theo! Theo get back here!" Another, older girl resembling the boy in appearance, pushed through the crowd over to the boy and snatched up his hand, "Theo mother told you not to wander off like that!" She looked apologetically up at Elsa, "My queen, I'm awfully sorry if my brother bothered you."

"I don't believe you!" The young Theo insisted again.

"Hush! You're insulting the queen!" His sister yanked on his arm and stepped in front of him. "Really, my queen, I'm very sorry for my brother's behavior. You see he doesn't trust that you… erm… really have powers." She mumbled the last bit of her sentence out hoping not to offend her.

Elsa smiled weakly, "It's quite alright, don't worry about it."

"Why don't you give us a demonstration, Queen Elsa?" One of the men she had been conversing with suggested.

"Here, here. Why not give us a bit of a show, madam?" Another seconded with a raise of his glass.

"Oh no, gentlemen, I wouldn't want to show off now." She rejected wrapping an arm around her stomach.

"See, I told you she wasn't true!"

"Hush Theo!"

"Mi'lady, if I may," started another of the men, "It is your birthday after all, it is your day to show off as much as you'd like. And what a great way to finish a party such as this with a graceful show of crystal, yes?" Elsa glanced down at her hands which had started to frost over from the pressure the party had already put on her. She nodded; admittedly, she did feel a lot better when she was using her powers rather than trying to bottle them up, as she did purely out of habit.

Tentatively, Elsa crossed the room towards the center of the dance floor. The room went quiet and she felt the burning gaze of a hundred people staring at her. When she reached the center she glimpsed around the room at each of the curious faces and found Anna's confused, yet excited, face amongst them. Elsa forced a smile to reassure that everything was alright. She lifted her skirt above her ankles and placed the point of her toes down onto the floor. A spiral of ice spread from the epicenter out towards the edges of the room with the gasps of amazed awes as the response. Elsa waved her hands at the sides of the room and the ice twisted around the pillars. Another wave at the throne that sat at the end of the room and it was covered in ice that spiraled out from the sides and over the back, accenting its features. Elsa turned her hands over one another forming a snowball in the air, those who had seen the trick before watched eagerly. She threw the ball into the air and it burst into a million tiny crystals that floated softly in the air and sparkled brilliantly. Finally, with a quick twist of her foot and a wave across the ground, everyone standing in the room hopped up onto ice skates.

The room erupted into applause and cheers as she finished. The music started up once more when the room began to move again, naturally assimilating in a circular fashion around the room. The queen moved her way towards the edge of her room smiling and nodding at the people who bowed and praised her as she passed.

Once everyone seemed to be fully distracted Elsa took the moment to sneak out one of the doors sighing in relief once she was cut off from the crowd. It had been such a long night; she was surprised she didn't sneak off long before then. She headed down the hall and around the corner taking the long way around the castle to get to her room. Aside from passing a couple of servants the castle seemed to be strangely empty knowing that there were about a hundred or more rowdy party guests. She took another corner pausing at one of the doors to the library considering taking a book to her room for the night.

A hand grabbed at her wrist and Elsa jumped back at the sudden contact, "Oh! Sorry!" they apologized in a hushed tone.

Elsa breathed a sigh of relief, "Anna, you startled me." Her sister flashed an apologetic smile, "What are you doing here?"

"I should ask you the same thing." Anna rebounded, "Where are you going?"

The queen glanced sideways at the stairs to the upper levels of the castle, "I was thinking about turning in for the night." She replied softly.

Anna seemed affronted, "Turn in?" She repeated, "But the night's barely started."

Elsa paused at the base of the steps and turned back to her sister, "Anna it's a wonderful party, but you know how I don't like-"

"You don't like it do you?"

"No, no! I do! It's just with the crowd, and it's loud, and especially what happened after last-"

"Listen, Elsa, if you didn't like it could just tell me instead of running away."

"Please, I'm not running away."

"It sure looks like you are."

"Anna, you must understand."

"Oh, I understand, Elsa. I understand perfectly well." The princess turned on her heel and headed back down the dark hallway where she had come from.

Elsa rolled her eyes and followed, "Come on, don't be so stubborn, Anna." The queen called, but her sister had only continued to walk on, ignoring the calls of her name as they both made their way down the corridor. "Anna, plea-"

The young princess had stopped dead in the middle of the hall so suddenly that Elsa had almost run into her. Anna turned and glared right through Elsa, "Is it going to be like this every time?"

"Excuse me?"

Anna scoffed and paced in a small circle in front of Elsa, "Are you just going to take off whenever you feel like it? Flee to the confines of your room? Shut me out just because you don't like something?" Elsa had grown speechless, her mind raced as it tried to search for the right words to appease her sister's frustrations.

"I mean first you left in the middle of our shopping trip in the market," Anna continued, "Then you left in the middle of the boat races, and now you won't even stay for your own birthday party… _that I threw for you_!" Anna paced back and forth between the narrow walls throwing her hands up in the air in utter irritation.

Had Elsa really been so ignorant to her sister's feelings, so blind to how she had been treating her? She wrapped her arms around her waist as the insecurities began to well to the surface, "Anna I had no idea that-"

"No, of course you didn't! You're always tied up with dealing with an ambassador from here, or a duke from there. When you said that the gates would never be closed again I thought that meant I would be seeing more of you. And even though now you're out of your room I feel like I know you just as well as I did the day we found out our parents died."

A spike through the heart. Elsa took a step back from the pure shock that Anna's words delivered. "Anna that's not fair." She struggled to keep her voice from trembling, but the creeping of the frost that had begun to crawl over the walls was all too obvious.

"What's not fair is how we've been through so much together and you still ignore me!" Anna turned again leaving Elsa in the dark hall.

"Anna, wait!"

"Whatever Elsa." She flew a hand in the air; she had already made it to the door at the end of the hall.

Elsa flinched as the door slammed behind Anna; she wasn't sure what had just happened, but she did know that if stayed here any longer someone was bound to stumble upon her and the slowly growing ice on the walls. Elsa made her way back down the hall and up there stairs, a path of ice trailing behind her. She had made it to her room; Elsa staggered to her bed and held one of the posts for support.

What had she done? Anna was right, she said she would keep the gates open so that they could be together, but she had no idea that she had only made things worse. Elsa tore at the collar of her dress and the ties of the corset, maybe opening the gates was a bad idea, maybe coming down from her private ice castle was a bad idea. Elsa pulled the nightgown over her head, buried herself into the bed and drew the covers over her head.

"I did it again," Elsa cursed herself and pushed her face into the pillow, "dammit."

This night just needed to end.


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N:**_Thank you all for the wonderful reviews! I'm so glad you're all liking it so far! I wasn't expecting to update so soon, but I was able to pump out a whole chapter in a day so I figured why not update? Anyway, here you guys go~

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Kristoff peeked out one of the set of doors to the courtyard noticing Anna kicking at the fresh piles of powder and mumbling to herself. Quietly he made his way over to her lightly padding his breast pocket and breathing in a breath of confidence.

"Uh, hey, Anna." Kristoff greeted apprehensively.

Anna turned, she looked as if she had been thinking heavily about something, "Oh, Kristoff. Are you enjoying the party?"

She definitely wasn't as good at hiding her emotions as well as Elsa was, Kristoff had noticed, "Yeah, sure. It's great, and everyone seems to be having a good time. Best party I've ever been too… only party I've ever been too." Anna couldn't help a small giggle pass her lips at his last statement. "Why are you out here, by the way, it's a little cold don't you think?"

Anna shrugged, "I guess you could say I'm used to it," she half-hissed turning to pace once more.

Kristoff cocked his head to the side; something had really been bothering her, more than usual too. "Are you alright?" He asked cautiously.

She took in a deep breath and shook her head, not really sure what she was actually frustrated about, "I dunno," she started softly running a hand up her arm, "Elsa and I got into this stupid fight."

"A fight? About what? Is everything ok?"

"I saw Elsa leaving the party early, and she left pretty quickly so I thought maybe something was wrong so followed. When I caught up to her she told me she was going to bed, and I just sorta… snapped at her." Anna let out a heavy, regretful sigh. "She always does this, she runs away when she starts to not like things, she says she doesn't like crowds, but I mean I threw this party for her she could at least stay for me."

Kristoff nodded, "So you want your sister to be more sociable, right?"

Anna started to pace again and threw her hands in the air, "Not just more sociable, just not so contained. Elsa opened the gates so that we could be more involved with the people and she still shuts herself away from everyone, away from me!"

"And what did Elsa say when you said this?"

She opened her mouth to respond, but Anna quickly realized that she didn't actually have anything to respond with. "Oh… I guess I didn't really let her say anything… I just walked away."

Kristoff rolled his eyes at Anna and frowned with his arms crossed, "And how exactly is that supposed to solve anything, Anna?"

Again the princess began to say something, but no words came out. He was right. She smiled sheepishly at him, "I messed up bad didn't I?"

He chortled and placed a hand on her shoulder, "A bit, but you should still go talk to her – or have her talk instead this time?" Anna cringed at the words. There was no telling of how her sister would react to her admitting her wrong doings. She took a breath and nodded at Kristoff who had wrapped his arm around her shivering shoulders.

"Oh, one more thing before you go," Kristoff said as he patted his coat, dug into the breast pocket and pulled out the matching necklace to the one he had given to Elsa earlier that day.

Anna's eyes gleamed at the sight, "Kristoff!" she exclaimed cupping the pendant in her hands. "This is beautiful! Did you make this? It's wonderful!"

The ice harvester shrugged his broad shoulders, his cheeks flushing at the compliments, "Well yeah, but I had a bit of help from some friends. They say 'hello', by the way." He glanced at her sideways with a soft and telling smirk.

"Here," she stifled another giggle and held up the pendant, "help me put it on." Once he had taken the necklace Anna turned so Kristoff could wrap the strands loosely around her neck, the pendant lay gently over her collarbone. She turned again stretching her neck slightly to show it off. "How does it look?"

"Perfect." Kristoff sighed before adding, "Your sister has the other half."

Anna squinted her eyes up at him, "So that's what you and Elsa were talking about earlier!" A finger poked playfully at Kristoff's chest. She smiled and glanced down at the necklace tracing the tips of her fingers around the designs gingerly. He could tell she was receding back into her mind.

"I need to go talk to my sister." She said softly, the words sticking to her lips. Kristoff stayed silent and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. He rubbed her shoulders, warming some courage into her. Anna fell onto his chest, her arms barely reaching the whole way around his large frame. The princess pulled herself away and made her way to the ballroom doors. Her hand paused on the brass handle and she turned back to Kristoff who waved her on with a reassuring smirk. Anna returned the grin and mouthed a 'thank you' before reentering the warmth of the castle.

Anna slipped around the edge of the ballroom, greeting and smiling to those she passed. Elsa's indoor skating rink seemed to have distracted everyone well enough that even those who lingered around the tables didn't seem to notice the princess quickly skirting by. She only hoped that anyone she did speak to didn't think she was being rude as she rushed off to the end of the hall and out the doors. Anna weaved her way down and around the corridors; her mind was a jumbled mess of thoughts. How would she even begin? Would Elsa even listen to her?

She turned a corner and slammed into a mass, suddenly she found herself on the ground. Caring hands gripped her shoulders and steadied the off balance princess, "Oh my! Princess Anna, I'm so sorry!" Gerda helped the fallen girl to her feet again.

"It's ok, I wasn't really paying attention, sorry." Anna edged her way around the head maid, making it all too obvious to her that something was going on.

"What's the matter, dear? Is everything alright?" Gerda reached out and grasped Anna's wrist carefully. To any other, this gesture would be far out of line, but in the many years that Gerda had practically raising Anna, and especially the three years in which Anna felt the most alone, the maid had earned a certain level of respect from Anna that was almost impossible to resist.

Anna glanced over her shoulder, the stairs were just there, but she knew that Gerda deserved to know what had been going on between the sisters. "I made a mistake, I was angry with Elsa when I shouldn't have been. I need to apologize."

Gerda sighed, her shoulders slumped and her head cocked to the side, "You spoke before you thought again, didn't you Anna?" The tone of her voice fell somewhere in between disappointed and approval. It was a sort of motherly tone that made Anna feel like she was a child again and she had knocked one of the paintings off of the wall, or pulled an arm off of one of the suits of armor.

Anna forced a smile, "I did," she admitted painfully and placed her free hand on top of Gerda's.

"Oh, Anna," Gerda sighed patting the princess' hands tenderly, "When will you learn to let your sister be herself?" There was a guilty churning in Anna's stomach as the maid's words settled in the air. "She's a quiet person, Anna, you've always known that. Even when you two were children Elsa was far more reserved than you."

"Then why did she let me plan such a big party for her?"

Gerda patted Anna's hands a few more times before responding, "Maybe, dear, she saw how excited you were and merely wanted to see you happy?"

Anna stood speechless. She said nothing as Gerda released her hands and turned down the hallway and out of sight. She thought back: Elsa had only agreed to go out to the market with her after she had asked several days in a row. Similarly with the boat races, Anna had to beg and plead, even after Elsa insisted that she didn't want to go. Had she really been so blindly selfish? What else had she forced her sister into without knowing how uncomfortable it made her?

In the midst of her thoughts Anna had made it up the stairs and halfway down the hall where she stood in front of Elsa's blue door in silence. Her mind was still, she knew what she had to say but she wasn't sure if she had the courage to say it. Anna took a deep breath and quickly knocked three times on the door. She heard the scraping of wood against wood and then a tumbling noise like a chair had been knocked over. Anna winced; she'd startled her for sure, off to a great start.

"Elsa?" Anna called weakly, they were soft, but she could hear the padding of footsteps across the room, maybe this would work out better than she had hoped. "Elsa I just want to talk." Anna continued and she rolled her hands over each other nervously as she spoke. Elsa gave no response. Now Anna was really feeling like a child again when she knocked almost every day asking if her sister wanted to come out to play.

A draft of cool air wafted out from under the crack in the door, "Elsa I just want to say I'm sorry," Anna rushed her words as frost began to form around the frame, "I'm sorry for yelling at you, for pressuring you, for everything!" She gripped the door handle and tried twisting it, but it had already frozen shut. She noticed, only after she had tried to twist the handle again, that it had grown bitterly cold.

"Y-you froze the door?" Anna took a step back in disbelief. She furrowed her brow and huffed and without thinking she threw her shoulder into the door exuding a loud grunt as her body collided with the solid wood of the door.

"I will not-" _slam_ "let you shut me out-" _slam_ "again!" _slam_.

To no avail the door remained sturdy; all that had been accomplished was leaving Anna with a sore shoulder that was sure to bruise by morning. Anna huffed, out of breath and her head rested on the door. She could feel the lump in her throat begin to turn into hot, frustrated tears that welled up in her eyes. She watched as the ice crept out from under the door, she glanced to the handle again and watched as it too was slowly covered in ice.

"Ok, Elsa." Anna sighed in defeat. She stood up and back away from the door, "I know I messed up, and I'm sorry. Maybe we can talk about it in the morning?" Anna tried to sound hopeful, but she couldn't help choking on the lump in her throat. Anna placed a hand on the cold wooden surface and lingered in the hall for a moment before she walked back down the hall and back to the party.

"Goodnight, Elsa."


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N:**_... ok well then. Once again I didn't expect to get this chapter done quite as quickly as I did, but I well... did. So here you go another update! Also, thank you all so much for the reviews and the words of encouragement, I really appreciate them and they're really helping to motivate me to write. Just one thing before we get to the chapter, a reminder really: this story is going to get very dark, violent, and graphic in the coming up chapters. I've already stated this before but I want to make sure that all of you understand where this is going to go. Anyway, enjoy~

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She stood in the dark snow again, the blue light off in the distance once again. Slowly this time she made her way down the hill towards the light. The black snow was thick and it took most of her strength and effort to move through it. With every step she made it felt as if she were sinking deeper and deeper into the snow until she tripped and tumbled down the hill just as she had before. She shielded her eyes from the light as she gazed up and attempted to catch a better glimpse at the figure shrouded in light.

The voice was the same, it called to her, and even though Anna was just below the floating figure she still couldn't hear what they said. A gust of wind blew into her and whipped her loose hair around her face. She glanced up again to catch sight of what looked like white locks blowing in the wind.

"Elsa?"

Strong hands latched onto her arms, pulled and tugged her away from the floating form. She resisted. She struggled to break free. She needed to see who was floating above her. She needed to be there. The strong hands shoved her back into the snow burying her under the frozen blackness.

Anna woke the following morning to a sky covered with gray clouds and a gentle snow fell over the rooftops of Arendelle. She rolled to her side, away from the gloomy window, only to sigh at the sight of her door. As much as she'd love to lie in bed all morning Anna knew that she would have to face the day eventually. Anna pushed a pillow to her face and thought back to her dream, but only remembered her sister's hair seemingly glowing blue light. She groaned softly as she sat up and pushed the stray strands of hair from her face. A shot of cold sprang up her leg as her toes pressed to the wooden floor and she made her way over to the wardrobe to pick out her outfit for the day.

As Anna lazily rifled through her clothes her mind drifted to the previous night; she couldn't help the sudden pang of guilt which twisted her stomach into knots. After she had tried to make up with her sister Anna had made her way back to the party to find that most of the guests had left and the remaining few were on their way out. She helped Kai and Gerda help those too inebriated of drink out to the gates and to their respective horses and carriages. She had spoken to Kristoff some more when they started to tidy up the ballroom, but she had barely heard any of the advice he had given her as he walked her to her room for the night. Anna's mind had become so muddled and shook up with so many different emotions that the moment her head had hit the pillow she was out cold.

It seemed that those emotions had carried over to the morning because her fingers wouldn't cooperate as she tried to fix her hair. Two long braids hung over her shoulders loosely held together with ribbons; a shiver ran up her spine which made Anna turn from the mirror as if there was an unknown presence in the room with her. Anna crossed over to her dresser and picked up the necklace Kristoff had given her. Anna only noticed then that Elsa had been wearing her piece when Anna had gotten so angry with her. Delicately, she looped the necklace around her head just as another chill went up her spine. She felt as if there were something missing in her room, but as she examined it everything was in its place.

"Oh shoot," Anna breathed as a thought came to her mind, "I'm supposed to meet Kristoff!" The princess quickly shoved on her boots and dashed out of her room. She passed Elsa's room and skidded to a stop before she headed down the stairs.

Anna took in a breath and turned back to her sister's door and knocked on the door three times, "Elsa?" She called, "Kristoff is going back home today, I was going to say goodbye to him and I thought, maybe, if you were up to it you could come with me?" Anna waited for a moment and hoped that Elsa would at least audibly reject her. At least then she would know that they were still on speaking terms. She couldn't bear to going back to never even greeting each other.

The princess sighed again and a small stretched over her chin; Anna normally woke up after her sister, Elsa probably wasn't even in her room at all. Anna turned back towards the stairs, slid down the railing as she normally did and bounded through the front doors. She'd see her sister later.

Anna found Kristoff hooking up the reindeer Sven to the still new-looking sled she had gotten for him, save for a few small scratches and skid marks. She giggled on approach hearing Kristoff speak for the reindeer in his comedic deep voice. "Good morning boys!" Anna greeted cheerfully.

With a soft whack on the head with his antlers Sven got the attention of the distracted ice harvester, "Sven! What have I told you about- Anna! Oh! Morning." Kristoff rubbed the spot where Sven had hit him.

"Are you just about ready to take off then?" Anna asked rocking on her heels.

Kristoff nodded, "Almost. I have to pick up some carrots this guy-" Anna tossed him a bag which, on reflex, he caught, "I see you've done that, then I guess we're all set." Sven just about leapt off the ground at the mention of carrots, and poked his nose and sniffed at the bag. After Kristoff had given him one of the orange treats and calmed the reindeer he added, "Did you get a chance to talk with your sister?"

Anna's face fell, "She wasn't in her room this morning. She's probably in one of the studies doing work or in a meeting or something." She tried to sound uplifted and unworried but the flutters in her voice gave her away.

Kristoff lifted a bag into the sled with a grunt, "Just give her a bit of time and she'll come around. If Elsa's anything like I was when it came to socializing she'll want to separate herself for a while."

"I figured after thirteen years of separation she'd be over it by now." Anna mumbled half-bitterly. She looked up to Kristoff who had his arms crossed over his chest and his eyebrows raised. "I'm only kidding." She added quickly and averted her gaze.

"A-huh. Listen, she's your sister, if anyone can talk to her it's you." He wrapped his arms around the princess.

Anna buried her face in his chest, "But what if she won't talk to me again? I was so mean to her." She squeezed him tightly trying to stifle the tears she felt building up like last night.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure you'll be able to fix everything." Kristoff gave her another quick squeeze before turning back to his sled.

Anna giggled and reached up to kiss him on the cheek, "Thank you Kristoff." The two said their goodbyes and exchanged a last embrace before Kristoff and Sven took off towards the North Mountain.

As they entered the forest, they immediately noticed that the gray sky that blocked most of the sun made the forest considerably darker than normal. Kristoff turned over to the bed of the sleigh and dug out the lantern and lit it. Kristoff noticed, as the flicker of light shone on the path below, there were extra tracks in the snow caught that his eye.

"You see that buddy?" Kristoff called to Sven, he swung the lantern around the side so Sven could see more clearly. Sven snorted, also seeing the tracks. "Yeah looks like we might meet up with some fellow travelers." Kristoff hooked the lantern onto the stand and sat back down on the bench. It was only on very rare occasions that Kristoff and Sven met up with other travelers since the mountains weren't a popular route to take. The forest that lined the mountains could be dense in several places and hard to maneuver if someone didn't know the right way through. Not to mention the woods were riddled with wolves and, in the spring and summer months, bears as well.

Kristoff and Sven had spent the majority of their lives in the forest and surrounding areas of Arendelle, so they liked to pride themselves on knowing their way around the local wilderness. They took their usual route northwest around the rivers that flowed down from the North Mountain. It was a much more round-about way of getting to where they needed to go, but it was much safer as well and only took about a half day more, less if they were traveling quickly.

As the duo approached the river bridge, Kristoff's face lit up; a small caravan of at least half a dozen travelers was stopped at the bridge trying to get their carriage over the snow-covered path. "Looks like they got it stuck in the snow; maybe we can help them out buddy." Sven snorted in agreement.

Kristoff slowed the sleigh to a stop behind the caravan and leapt out into the snow. "Hello friends!" He greeted approaching the nearest of the group, "What seems to be the problem?"

The middle-aged woman pushed back the hood of her dark cloak and returned his greeting with a smile, "I'm sorry if we're holding you up; our carriage seems to have gotten stuck on the bridge." She led him over to the scene where two of the men pushed the carriage from behind and another tried to guide the horses from the front.

"I have a shovel to dig some of that snow out, and a reindeer if you'd like some help pulling." He offered gesturing back to Sven and the sleigh.

The woman nodded her head, "We would be very grateful if you could help in any way that you can." Kristoff nodded and turned back to his sleigh where he unhooked Sven and dug out his shovel and a rope from the bags in the back. He led Sven to the front of the carriage and, with the help of the man from the front, tied the reindeer to the axles and positioned Sven in front of the horses. Kristoff then began to quickly clear the ramp up to the bridge to so the wheels could make it over.

Once everything had been ready Kristoff took his spot at the rear of the carriage. The man at the front called out for them to start to push. With the help of the other two men, Kristoff dug his boots into the ground and pushed the carriage as hard as could. There was a lurch and the wheels rolled over the ledge and up onto the bridge. The man at the front guided Sven and the horses over the bridge and along the path until the carriage was completely on the other side.

Once the carriage was cleared of the bridge Kristoff jogged to the front to untie Sven. "What's your name, boy?" The man from the front asked.

"Kristoff, sir." He replied rolling the rope around his arm into a neat bundle.

"Morgan," The large, dark haired man stuck out his hand to shake with Kristoff. "I'm heading this little caravan here back to our home on the other side of the mountains. What brings you out here?"

"The same. I was a guest at the queen's party yesterday, and now I'm heading home. Not many take the path through the mountains, especially in the winter. Any reason?"

Morgan cleared his throat and shifted on his feet seemingly uncomfortable by the question, "We are in a bit of a hurry. You were at the party, you say? Was it any good?" He asked deflecting the subject of his travel plans.

Kristoff thought nothing of the aversion and replied, "I haven't been to many parties in my life, but I did enjoy it, I must say." He shrugged.

"How did you get invited? I would expect nobility to ride a horse instead of being pulled by a reindeer in a sleigh." Morgan glanced behind Kristoff at his ride on the other side of the river.

He chuckled, "I'm the royal ice harvester and deliverer, and since I live in the mountains the sleigh is really my best option." There was a sudden banging from inside the carriage that made Kristoff jump. A couple of the others rushed inside the carriage to silence the noise. Kristoff craned his, "What's in there?"

Morgan stepped in front of Kristoff cutting off his line of sight, "I would suggest you don't ask about our cargo." Morgan's voice had grown deep and cautious.

Kristoff paused for a moment and shrugged again, "Fair enough, every man has his secrets."

The woman from before approached, "Morgan, it's growing late and the boys are growing weary."

"We'll try to find a spot up ahead to rest, Lily, but we cannot stop for the night, I've explained this."

Kristoff looked between the two of them, "I know of a place a little ways up ahead. It isn't much but it's warm. Ever been to Oaken's Trading Post?" Lily and Morgan exchanged a quizzical look. Kristoff playfully nudged at them, "It has a sauna." He sing-songed, which seemed to convince Morgan who had nodded his head.

Kristoff reattached Sven to the sleigh and pulled out in front of the caravan. He led them back east following the river downstream. The path then jeered away from the river and back north up the mountains on the edge of the woods before turning back into the woods which were now darker than before as the sun began to lower in the sky. The ice harvester pulled his sleigh up to the barn where he and Sven would usually sleep for the night and jumped out to say goodbye to his new traveling friends. He shook hands with Morgan once again and bit him and the rest of the caravan safe travels before making his way inside the barn with Sven and hitting the hay. Literally.


	5. Chapter 5

**_A/N:_** Thank you all so much for the reviews! School is starting for me next week, so I apologize if the updates come a bit slower. Again, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you all enjoy.

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Anna spent what remained of the morning, and well into the afternoon, in the market after Kristoff had departed. Mingling with the townsfolk and exploring the streets had become a past-time of Anna's ever since the gates had opened. She had been outside the gates before, but it was such a rare occasion and she had normally been escorted by guards. Now that she could freely roam the town as she pleased Anna felt like she was seeing an entirely new world other than one of stone, paintings, and tapestries.

She was in the middle of rolling a ball of snow to make a snowman with a group of children in the town square when the sky began to turn a purple-red over the fjord. Anna lifted the ball of snow up onto a bigger one, and then helped one of the children place the smallest ball of snow on the top. As they finished putting the pebbles up the front of the snowman Anna's stomach started to growl. Anna blushed and slapped her hands over her middle. With a cheerful wave goodbye to the children she made her way to the castle for dinner.

The princess found her way into the kitchens where there was an over powering combination of smells that hit Anna in the face all at once. She loved the kitchens, mostly because it meant food, but also because Cook was one of the most entertaining of men to chat with.

"What's the grub of the day, Cook?" Anna greeted and curiously lifted one of the large pots on the stove.

The large man turned from the oven carrying a pan of rolls, "Stew, dear princess!" He placed the pan down on the island and began piling the rolls in a large basket on top of the other rolls, "I made some fresh butter buns too."

"Excellent." Anna's mouth began to water as she stirred the pot and let the wonder flavors escape up into the air. She took a deep breath savoring the scent before turning to the island and grabbing a clean bowl. She filled the bowl and took a seat at the island, Cook passed her a roll from the basket and she smiled her thank you.

The rest of the servants slowly made their way into the kitchen and either chose to eat there or back at the servant's quarters. While they ate Cook dove into telling one of his stories about witches and bears taller than a mountain, or lost princesses with hair that could heal any wound. Anna always enjoyed his stories, no matter how surreal they sounded.

Just as the excitement began to die Gerda entered the kitchen nervous with a worried expression on her face. She crossed over to Anna and tapped her shoulder anxiously, "Anna," she whispered hastily.

The princess swiveled in her chair, her light mood falling the moment she saw Gerda's face, "What is it? Is something the matter?"

"Have you spoken with your sister today?" She asked, her voice trembling over her words.

"No I haven't, I figured she was already in meetings by the time I woke up." Anna stood from her stool and followed Gerda out of the kitchens and into the hall where it was a bit more private.

"That's just it," Gerda explained quickly, "She hasn't been to any of her meetings all day."

Anna glanced up at stairs, worried thoughts crossed her mind; maybe something was much more wrong with Elsa than she had initially thought. "Has anyone seen her at all today?" Anna asked as she made for the stairs, Gerda following behind quickly.

"I- I'm not sure, Kai only mentioned to me just now about her not appearing." The two climbed the staircase, Anna skipping every other step just to reach the top sooner.

She jogged down to her sister's blue door and knocked three times, "Elsa?" Anna called trying to control her voice so that it didn't sound panicky. "Elsa, are you still in there? Are you alright?" There was still no answer. Anna's hand rested on the doorknob, she squeezed her eyes shut hoping that it still wasn't frozen shut. She took a deep breath, turned the handle and pushed the door open. A gust of wind blew into Anna's face from across the room and she noticed the wide open window.

The room was empty.

Panic began to set in. Anna crossed over to the window leaving tracks in the snow that had blown inside. She peered out hoping to find anything that would give her a sign as to where her sister had gone, but there was none. "Gerda," Anna's voice shook as she spoke, "Get Kai, hurry." The maid mumbled her conformation and hurried out of the room.

Anna took the moment to look around the room. Besides the snow, she noticed the chair that had fallen over just as she heard the previous night. She stepped over to the desk to see if there was anything that would tell her what Elsa may have been doing that night. Other than the chair, everything seemed to be in its place, the desk was neat and orderly just the way Elsa kept everything else in her room and her studies.

Her head turned to the bed, her brow furrowed. The sheets were tossed to the side and hanging off the edge, one of the pillows was even on the floor. Anna cocked her head to the side as she approached the pillow, picked it up and placed it back on the bed. If Elsa was at her desk, then why was her bed a mess? Unless maybe she couldn't sleep and she went to her desk to- but there was nothing at her desk. Even if Anna had interrupted her just as she sat down, wouldn't she have pulled some paper or a book out? Anna shook her head, something was off, but she couldn't tell what.

Kai, followed by Gerda, entered the room. He glanced around and his expression became a mixture of shock and worry, "Do you know what happened?"

Anna shook her head with a small shrug, "This has to be my fault," she said, "I was terrible to her and I'm sure she took off because of it." She explained, she rubbed her arms as another breeze blew in from the window.

"Took off where?" Kai pressed the panic in his voice was heavy.

Anna glanced out of the window again, "I have an idea, I'm going to change into my travel clothes, and I need you to get my horse." If there was any panic left in Anna it had changed into the determination to make things right with her sister.

"But without the queen or the princess in the castle, the people are sure to cause and uproar!" Kai insisted.

"No one has to know, Kai." Anna headed for the door, "This time we will keep things quiet about my sister's leaving, understand?" The command in her voice reminded her of Elsa, which sent goosebumps over her arms.

Kai stepped forward, "I'll go with you-"

"No, I need you and Gerda here to keep order while I'm away. I'll meet up with Kristoff and he'll join me, if it puts your mind at ease."

"Nothing about any of this puts my mind at ease, princess." Kai admitted honestly, his arms crossed over his chest.

Anna smiled to reassure him, "I brought my sister back once, and I can do it again." Kai held his tongue from commenting about how last time nearly killed her, but she was right. He shook his head and followed her out of the room. Both went separate directions down the hall, Anna to her room, Kai and Gerda down the stairs and out to the stables to fix her horse.

They met up in the courtyard; Anna was bundled up in her travel gear ready to take off. Gerda had hastily thrown together a small pack of food for Anna; she kissed her on the cheek and told her to be safe, her fingers shaking nervously as they adjusted Anna's clothes. Kai helped boost her onto the white horse and then handed her a lantern as he muttered reminders about her seat in the saddle and the dangers of the woods.

"Listen," Anna said just as she was about to leave, "I want no one to know about this, do not tell anyone where I am or that my sister is missing. If anyone asks, tell them we've fallen ill." Kai and Gerda both nodded their heads uneasily. Anna nodded back at them and lifted her hood over her head, "I'll be back soon, I promise." And with that the princess took off into the night as fast as her horse would take her.

Morning broke over the mountains, the sky was no longer gray but clouds still cluttered the sky. Kristoff emerged from the small barn next to the trading post and stretched with a great big yawn. From inside the barn Sven was still lazily making his way to his feet. "I'm going to see if ole Oaken's got anything for breakfast, I'll be right back." Sven grunted his approval and flopped back down in the hay.

Kristoff entered the small building, the bell above the door announced his arrival, but he added anyway, "Good morning, Oaken!"

"Ah, it's the little ice picker boy, good morning! You are well, yah?" Oaken greeted in his usual cheerful tone from behind his small counter.

"Well off as I can be." Kristoff said and he wandered aimlessly around the shelves browsing the various items the man had collected that were for sale. "Do you have anything to eat? Something a bit more travel-friendly this time?"

"Oh yah, of course!" The trader began listing off various food items from behind the counter as Kristoff rounded the shelves to the other side and listened for something that sounded remotely appetizing to him. His eyes fell on a peculiar item that looked strangely familiar; he blinked a couple times to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Kristoff pulled off a mitten and picked up the necklace.

It was a half circle with hand-carved braided engravings over the front, smooth on the back, polished all over, and a flat ridge around the bottom like it was missing a piece. His brow wrinkled into a concerned expression. He knew this, he made this.

"Where did you get this?" Kristoff interrupted the trader from his list. He approached the counter and hung the necklace in front of the large man, "Where did you get this?" he repeated slower almost as if it were a threat.

Oaken paused as he stumbled for words, "Those nice folk you brought in last night, they sold it to me."

"You bought this from them?"

"Yes, is there a problem?"

"I made this. This was a birthday present to Queen Elsa. How did they end up with it?" Oaken sat back down in his seat at a loss for words. There was the whinnying of a horse from outside; Kristoff dashed out of the door, necklace in hand.

Anna made it up the hill with her horse, she had been completely exhausted from the full night's ride up to the trading post. "Kristoff," she called relived, "I'm so glad I caught you!" She leapt from her horse and covered the distance between them in only a few strides.

"What are you doing here?" Kristoff's concerned expression only grew; Anna's arrival couldn't have been a coincidence.

"It's Elsa, she's gone missing. I'm pretty sure she ran away to the Ice Palace, but I wanted to catch up with you before I went up alone." Anna explained and she hung onto the porch post for support.

Kristoff's face fell, "Oh no." He knew there was something wrong with the group of travelers he had met along the way here. He knew they were hiding something, and now that he knew what they were hiding, or rather _who_ they were hiding, he felt the tightest knot in his stomach twist more painfully than he had ever felt before.

"What? What is it, Kristoff?" He held out his hand revealing the necklace to Anna, she glanced back up at him in confusion.

"I don't think your sister's at the Ice Palace."


End file.
